Yesterday, I hippity-hopped from the Magic Kingdom over to California Adventure (our two lone Disney parks in CA -- ahh...Westcot, why?)... and took a spin on the new Toy Story Mania.

First off let me start by saying that when I first heard about this ride I was less than thrilled. A reincarnate of Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster's with more sophisticated technology and zero story seemed... well, not like much of a ride. Needless to say, my expectations were low. And then I got in line...

OK, so for those of you who haven't visited California Adventure, when it first opened, the lakeside pier named PARADISE PIER was themed as a throwback to the likes of Boardwalk style amusement parks; complete with midway games (yes, the pay-per-game a la Six Flags kind) along with a carousel and quasai-wooden coaster. There is, or maybe was a pier like this up in Northern California, however, I can't remember it's name -- but the coaster there was (or is) AMAZING. Anyhow, the theming of Toy Story into the Midway area works fantastically well. Albeit, the queue itself is mostly just ropes and umbrellas, but the color scheme and architecture lend themselves neatly into the surrounding atmosphere.

Now onto the ride... Probably the best part about this experience was my incredibly low expectations. As a big fan of the "passive" experience which is a whole other debate duely needed on this board, I had major reservations about yet another interactive ride that is essentially a video game hiding under the guise of a dark ride. Now with all those notes mentioned, I really enjoyed the ride. Does it have a story? No. Is the theming inside the ride impressive? Not really. Do I feel like I experienced the magic of Toy Story in ride-form? Not at all. But, there is something to be said about yanking on that string and watching your firing article fly across the 3D screen. Actually the 4D elements (wind, water, etc) were a great addition and I wish they were more present throughout the game/ride.

In the end, I didn't walk away from my first go blown away by the animatronics or effects or story or theming like I did on say... Indiana Jones. Nor did I stumble off the cart as I did in hmmm...Everest, screaming, "LET'S DO IT AGAIN!". However, I did find myself saying....y'know if the line weren't so long and I didn't have to weave and bob around an innumerable amount of crying children, I might just give Toy Story Mania another go. But hey, we have The Little Mermaid and Cars on their way -- that's kinda cool

Well so I hit Hollywood studios yesterday and after an under-par meal at Primetime Cafe (the food wasnt so bad as was the service, but anyway) we went on down to the 80 minute wait for Toy Story Mania. I dont know how they built it out west, but here they have renamed the area of the park to Pixar and they have large scale props such as the green army guys and board games on the sides of the facades. The best part about the queue for this ride was the fact that it was indoors. Other than that, I despised the wait in line because its just like that old standard theme park queue where its back and forth etc etc. The low ceiling made for a very noisy hour as well. They have an animatronic mr potato head nearing the other side of the queue room that is somewhat interactive with the guests...but for a short while he got stuck in a strange position and had to be reset...interesting. Well anyways, on to the ride...like matt said, the ride was actually really fun and I was entertained. I like competitive games like this and as far as that goes, i think it was a step ahead of its laser-target peers with the 3D screens and the air cannon and water effects. Pulling that little rope 5 thousand times will wear your arm out let me tell you! One thing that I thought was good was the fact that if the ride system has to pause for a moment (say for a wheelchair), all the targets turn into zero point targets so that you can get some practice shots in before you move onto the next game. The ride vehicles are pretty cool as well because each vehicle holds 8 guests...there are 4 passengers on each side in separate "carriages/cars" 2 and 2, back to back. They even went so far to have a closed caption button on the vehicle so that hearing impaired guests can play just as well...the instructions would be displayed on the screens before each "game" begins. Overall though, it wasnt too bad...but I would definitely not wait more than 25-30 minutes to ride it...next time Ill get a fastpass, that is if they all havent been distributed by mid-day! We finished off the day with IllumiNations so at least I got to see one amazing thing yesterday! I wanted to stay late for the propane burnoff but didnt know if they still allow guests to watch that, anyone know?

Let's talk about these queues for a second. So WDI purportedly spent millions perfecting this awe-inspiring Mr. Potato Head animatronic capable of removing it's own ear and putting in back. And yeah, it's pretty funny and sure the jokes can probably get a little tired. But how hard is it to create a looping track that runs say....an hour and a half in duration, that pretty much guarantees that the average guest won't get a repeating joke about Mrs. Potato Head. And furthermore, if this was possible, than why is the guest given about 1-5 minutes of audience-time in front of the incredible creation and than whisked away into an ultimately bland waiting experience without any form of visual or audio entertainment except for soaking in one's own sweat and staring at the pavement? Seemed like an amazing creation -- would've like to enjoyed it more; that's just me.

OK, so for those of you who haven't visited California Adventure, when it first opened, the lakeside pier named PARADISE PIER was themed as a throwback to the likes of Boardwalk style amusement parks; complete with midway games (yes, the pay-per-game a la Six Flags kind) along with a carousel and quasai-wooden coaster. There is, or maybe was a pier like this up in Northern California, however, I can't remember it's name -- but the coaster there was (or is) AMAZING. Anyhow, the theming of Toy Story into the Midway area works fantastically well. Albeit, the queue itself is mostly just ropes and umbrellas, but the color scheme and architecture lend themselves neatly into the surrounding atmosphere._________________Jobs search： http://jobsearch.bz
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